Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel
Ruth Hogan
Hodder £14.99, pp336
Tilda, aged 46, is struggling with emotional intimacy, obsessive-compulsive tendencies and deep ambivalence about her mother’s recent death. Intercut with Tilda’s story is that of her childhood 40 years before, when she was coping with the sudden disappearance of her father and her mother’s depression and neglect. As Tilda revisits scenes from her childhood – including the hotel of the title – the two narratives converge in a series of unexpected revelations. Hogan has a reputation for eccentric characters, hints of the supernatural and the power of unexpected friendships. Here, she combines all these with a moving exploration of the complex relationship between mothers and daughters.
Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust
Hedi Fried
Scribe, £12.99, pp160
Fried was 19 when she and her family were sent from Hungary to Auschwitz. Her parents were murdered, but she and her sister survived. They both made a home in Sweden and, ever since, Fried, now 94, has talked to students about her experiences. This slim but powerful volume, sensitively translated by Alice Olsson, comprises answers to the questions she is most frequently asked, such as: “Why did you not fight back?” and “What helped you to survive?”, “Are you able to forgive?” Fried answers with humanity, candour and thoughtfulness in a book that should be required reading for all young people.
With the End in Mind
Kathryn Mannix
HarperCollins £9.99, pp352
Mannix, who has worked in palliative care for 30 years, investigates our attitudes to dying and how we might better contemplate our own mortality. She interweaves her professional journey with case studies from her clinical practice, exploring the physical symptoms that lead to one’s demise and the varying coping strategies people employ. A bestseller in hardback and now out in paperback, it is a rallying cry for us to face death with greater insight and courage: “Living is precious and is perhaps best appreciated when we live with the end in mind.”
To order Queenie Malone’s Paradise Hotel for £13.19, Questions I Am Asked About the Holocaust for £11.43, or With the End in Mind for £8.79, go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £15, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99
